Luminance Conditions Research Articles

Impact of low luminance conditions on quality of life for the visually impaired: development of the Low Luminance Questionnaire Japanese version.

This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Low Luminance Questionnaire (LLQ-J) and to evaluate its reliability and validity. Cross-sectional study. LLQ-J was developed by standardized methods. A total of 101 patients comprising 55 with age-related macular degeneration, 25 with glaucoma, 15 with regressed proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and 6 with retinitis pigmentosa were included in this study. The patients completed the LLQ-J and Japanese version of the visual function Questionnaire-25 (VFQ-25). Using the LLQ-J data, floor and ceiling effects were computed. To examine internal consistency, some patients completed the LLQ-J a second time 2-4weeks later and the data were analyzed for Cronbach's alpha and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and low luminance visual acuity (LLVA) were measured, and low-luminance deficit (LLD) was calculated. Criterion validity was also tested. No ceiling or floor effects were present in the LLQ-J data. Cronbach's alfa was 0.88, and ICCs were higher than 0.70 for all subscales. Moderate to high correlation was observed between LLQ-J and VFQ-25 (p < 0.01), confirming concurrent validity. "General dim lighting" and "Peripheral vision" were significantly associated with LLVA in the better eye (p < 0.05). "Mobility", "General dim lighting" and "Peripheral vision" were significantly associated with LLD (p < 0.05). "Emotional distress" was significantly associated with BCVA in the worse eye (p < 0.05). No subscales were associated with BCVA of the better eye. The LLQ-J is a valid and reliable questionnaire for assessing QOL under low luminance conditions.

Storage Optimization using Adaptive Thresholding Motion Detection

Data storage is always an issue, especially for video data from CCTV cameras that require huge amounts of storage. Moreover, monitoring past events is a laborious task. This paper proposes a motion detection method that requires fewer calculations and reduces the required data storage up to 70%, as it stores only the informative frames, enabling the security personnel to retrieve the required information more quickly. The proposed method utilized a histogram-based adaptive threshold for motion detection, and therefore it can work in variable luminance conditions. The proposed method can be applied to streamed frames of any CCTV camera to efficiently store and retrieve informative frames.

The acute effect of cocoa and red-berries on visual acuity and cone-mediated dark adaptation in healthy eyes

• This study examines the acute effect of cocoa and red-berries polyphenols on retinal functions such as visual acuity (VA) and cone-mediated dark adaptation in healthy eyes. • Photopic visual acuity improved significantly after cocoa ingestion. • Mesopic or low luminance VA and dark adaptation was not affected by any of the two polyphenol diets. • The improvement in photopic visual acuity could be attributed to flavanols and Theobromine. The retina is a highly vascularized tissue with a high metabolic and oxygen demand responsible for human vision. Considering that the polyphenolic flavanols and anthocyanins have been shown to be beneficial for endothelial function and cerebral blood-flow, an acute randomized and controlled crossover trial with two different sources of polyphenols, anthocyanins from red-berries and flavanols from cocoa, was designed to better understand the effect of polyphenols on visual acuity (VA) and cone-mediated dark adaptation (DA). Thirty-seven healthy subjects (22.1 ± 2.0 years old) participated in the acute intervention for three times (red-berries, cocoa or vehicle-control) with a washout period of two weeks in-between. VA under photopic and low luminance (mesopic) conditions, DA or dynamic of recovery of contrast threshold (CT) following near-total photopigment bleach for 5 min, urine total polyphenols, theobromine and antioxidant power were measured in the three study-arms after 2-hours ingestion of the study-food. 3-hours postprandial urine showed higher levels of total polyphenols after ingestion of cocoa flavanols or red-berries anthocyanins in comparison with the vehicle-control and higher levels of theobromine only for the cocoa group. There was an increase in photopic VA with cocoa flavanols that with red-berries anthocyanins did not reach statistical significance. Both, cocoa and red berries, failed to improve mesopic VA and the cone time constant for contrast recovery and final CT of DA.

Normal- and Low-Luminance Automated Quantitative Contrast Sensitivity Assessment in Eyes With Age-Related Macular Degeneration

To assess the effectiveness of an active learning approach to measuring the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) in patients with various degrees of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) under multiple luminance conditions. Cross-sectional study. Patients with AMD (26 intermediate AMD, 19 AMD with subretinal drusenoid deposits [SDD], 20 geographic atrophy [GA]) and 23 age-matched controls were tested with the Manifold Contrast Vision Meter (Adaptive Sensory Technology) and the qCSF algorithm, which applies active learning to estimate a model of the CSF's global shape. Testing was performed under conditions of standard and low luminance. For each AMD severity, the area under log CSF (AULCSF) and contrast sensitivities at individual spatial frequencies were calculated for analysis. Low-luminance deficits (LLDs) for visual acuity (VA) and AULCSF were calculated as the difference between standard and low luminance values. Progressive decreases in AULCSF were observed as disease severity increased. For standard luminance, pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences between control/intermediate AMD (P < .0005), control/SDD (P < .0005), control/GA (P < .0005), and intermediate AMD/GA (P < .005). Similarly, for low luminance, pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences between the controls and each disease group (all P < .0005), in addition to significant differences between intermediate AMD/SDD (P < .005), and intermediate AMD/GA (P < .005). No correlations were found between LLD VA and LLD AULCSF in any AMD groups. Contrast sensitivity measured via qCSF under both standard- and low-luminance conditions correlates with advancing stages of dry AMD. The interaction between luminance and contrast sensitivity appears to reflect a different aspect of visual function than the interaction between luminance and VA.

The effect of display brightness and viewing distance: a dataset for visually lossless image compression

Visibility of image artifacts depends on the viewing conditions, such as display brightness and distance to the display. However, most image and video quality metrics operate under the assumption of a single standard viewing condition, without considering luminance or distance to the display. To address this limitation, we isolate brightness and distance as the components impacting the visibility of artifacts and collect a new dataset for visually lossless image compression. The dataset includes images encoded with JPEG andWebP at the quality level that makes compression artifacts imperceptible to an average observer. The visibility thresholds are collected under two luminance conditions: 10 cd/m2, simulating a dimmed mobile phone, and 220 cd/m2, which is a typical peak luminance of modern computer displays; and two distance conditions: 30 and 60 pixels per visual degree. The dataset was used to evaluate existing image quality and visibility metrics in their ability to consider display brightness and its distance to viewer. We include two deep neural network architectures, proposed to control image compression for visually lossless coding in our experiments.

Efficient measurements for the dynamic range of human lightness perception

Patients with an eye disease often report nyctalopia, hemianopia, and/or photophobia. We hypothesized that such symptoms are related to the disease impacting the dynamic range of lightness perception (DRL). However, there is currently no standardized approach for measuring DRL for clinical use. We developed an efficient measurement method to estimate DRL. Clinical trial METHODS: Fifty-five photophobic patients with eye disease and 46 controls participated. Each participant judged the appearance of visual stimuli, a thick bar with luminance that gradually changed from maximum to minimum was displayed on uniform background. On different trials the background luminance changed pseudo-randomly between three levels. The participants repeatedly tapped a border on the bar that divided the appearance of grayish white/black and perfect white/black. We defined the DRL as the ratio between the luminance values at the tapped point of the border between gray and white/black. The mean DRL of the patients was approximately 15dB, significantly smaller than that of the controls (20dB). The center of each patient's DRL shift depending on background luminance, which we named index of contextual susceptibility (iCS), was significantly larger than controls. The DRL of retinitis pigmentosa was smaller than controls for every luminance condition. Only the iCS of glaucoma was significantly larger than controls. This measurement technique detects an abnormality of the DRL. The results support our hypothesis that the DRL abnormality characterizes lightness-relevant symptoms that may elucidate the causes of nyctalopia, hemeralopia, and photophobia.

Evaluation of disability glare caused by headlights of most common vehicles in Iran

Background and Objectives: Road traffic accident is one of the leading causes of death in some countries such as Iran. Disability glare due to headlights of vehicles can increase the risk of crashes and make dangerous conditions. This study aimed to investigate the level of glare induced by the headlights of most common vehicles in Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a suburban road of Ilam province in 2019. The disability glare resulted from the headlights of Pride Saba GTX, Pride 131SL, Samand Soren, Peugeot 405, Megan, and Peugeot Pars was measured at the distances of 10–100 m away from the headlights. The Threshold Elevation index under the high-beam and low-beam conditions (headlight's operation modes) was obtained for the background luminance condition including 1 and 50 cd/m2 for the age groups of 20, 35, 70, and 83 years old. Results: When the background luminance was 1 cd/m2, the mean glare level caused by the high-beam mode of illumination exceeded the recommended disability glare thresholds of all age groups. When the background luminance was 50 cd/m2, at certain longitudinal distances, glare level exceeded the disability glare thresholds of the elderly drivers (aged 70 and 83 years). At the background luminance of 1 cd/m2, low-beam mode of illumination caused disability glare at certain distances but not in general. At the background luminance of 50 cd/m2, low-beam mode of illumination did not cause disability glare at any distance. Conclusion: The results showed the mutual effect of luminance and the angle of line of sight with respect to glare source on the emergence of disability glare. The age also exhibited a significant association with the disability glare, as the highest glare levels were obtained for older drivers.

Early Identification and Detection of Driver Drowsiness by Hybrid Machine Learning

Drunkenness or tiredness is a leading cause of car accidents, and it has serious consequences for road safety. More fatal accidents can be avoided by alerting tired drivers ahead of time. While driving, several drowsiness detection technologies watch for signs of inattention and alert the driver. It is critical to be aware of such events to avoid potential danger by alerting the driver of their condition and automatically initiating emergency measures in real-time to ensure the safety of all passengers in the vehicle. To overcome this, we need a system that can continuously monitor the driver’s facial expressions and detect facial landmarks to extract their state of expression to determine whether they are sleepy or have extreme changes in their emotions, such as anger. As soon as the system detects such changes, it takes control of the vehicle, immediately slows it down, and alerts the driver by sounding an alarm to make them aware of the situation. The proposed system will be integrated with the vehicle’s electronics, tracking the vehicle’s statistics and providing more accurate results. In this paper, we have implemented real-time image segmentation and drowsiness using machine learning methodologies. In the proposed work, an emotion detection method based on Support Vector Machines (SVM) has been implemented using facial expressions. The algorithm was tested under variable luminance conditions and outperformed current research in terms of accuracy. We have achieved 83.25 % to detect the facial expression change.

Effects of pupillary light and darkness reflex on the generation of pro- And anti-saccades.

Saccades are often directed toward a stimulus that provides useful information for observers to navigate the visual world. The quality of visual signals of a stimulus is influenced by global luminance, and the pupil constricts or dilates after a luminance increase or decrease, respectively, to optimize visual signals for further information processing. Although luminance level changes regularly in the real environment, saccades are mostly studied in the luminance-unchanged setup. Whether pupillary responses triggered by global luminance changes modulate saccadic behavior are yet to be explored. Through varying background luminance level in an interleaved pro- and anti-saccade paradigm, we investigated the modulation of pupillary luminance responses on the generation of reflexive and voluntary saccades. Subjects were instructed to either automatically look at the peripheral stimulus (pro-saccade) or to suppress the automatic response and voluntarily look in the opposite direction from the stimulus (anti-saccade). Level of background luminance was increased (light), decreased (dark), or unchanged (control) during the instructed fixation period. Saccade reaction time distributions of correct pro- and anti-saccades in the light and dark conditions were differed significantly from those in the control condition. Moreover, the luminance condition modulated saccade kinematics, showing reduced performances in the light condition than in the control condition, particularly in pro-saccades. Modeling results further suggested that both pupil diameter and pupil size derivative significantly modulated saccade behavior, though effect sizes were small and mainly mediated by intersubject differences. Together, our results demonstrated the influence of pupillary luminance responses on the generation of pro- and anti-saccades.

Improvement of Low Luminance Visual Acuity in Patients with Chronic Central Serous Chorioretinopathy after Half-Dose Verteporfin Photodynamic Therapy.

Patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) often complain of visual difficulties under low luminance conditions. In this study, we evaluated low luminance visual acuity (LLVA) after half-dose verteporfin photodynamic therapy (hdPDT) in eyes with CSC. The study included eight eyes of eight patients with chronic CSC that underwent hdPDT. The best-corrected visual acuity, LLVA and optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings were evaluated at baseline, and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after hdPDT. LLVA was measured at six levels of background luminance. Serous retinal detachment was completely resolved in all eyes. Although the mean LLVA at 1 month did not improve significantly compared to baseline at all luminance levels, significant improvements were observed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months (p < 0.05). In OCT images, although the ellipsoid zone was not detectable in all eyes before hdPDT, it was observed in 2 eyes at 1 month, in 7 eyes at 3 months, and in all eyes from 6 months. The LLVA and the ellipsoid zone improved similarly with postoperative time courses. In conclusion, hdPDT improves LLVA in eyes with chronic CSC. The recovery of the ellipsoid zone may play a part in improving LLVA after hdPDT.

Influence of coloured light projected from night-time excessive luminance outdoor LED display screens on vehicle driving safety along urban roads

Night-time excessive luminance Outdoor LED display screens (OLDSs) are widely used in urban areas, which yield potential safety hazards to vehicle traffic at night. In this study, we evaluated the effects that coloured light projected from excessive luminance OLDS has on vehicle driving safety along urban roads at night. Based on road lighting environmental characteristics at night and using reaction time (RT) testing software under different white field luminance (WFL) conditions, the RTs for small targets (STs) with different colours of OLDS were examined. First, in combination with field tests, excessive luminance values of typical OLDSs at night (1,000, 3,000, and 5100 cd/m2) were determined; then, experimental simulation scenes were established by integrating real photos with software simulations. Next, the RT experiments were conducted, followed by obtaining the influences that different colours have on the RTs and visual missing dots (MDs) under different WFL conditions. The results showed that, in addition to blue light, the coloured light of OLDSs can improve a driver's ability to recognise small targets and reduce RTs in the case of low WFL values, but the coloured light causes more MDs and affects traffic safety. The findings also indicated that the night recognition abilities of females under the influence of projected OLDS coloured light was better than that of males.

Association between central retinal thickness and low luminance visual acuity in early age-related macular degeneration.

To examine whether central retinal thickness (CRT) is related to mesopic visual acuity (VA) and low luminance deficit (LLD, difference between photopic and mesopic VA) in eyes with early and intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In a cross-sectional study, 50 pseudophakic subjects older than 63 years were divided into three groups (no AMD, early AMD and intermediate AMD). Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was used to measure CRT in the 1 mm-central-area. Best-corrected distance VA was measured under photopic or mesopic luminance conditions and LLD calculated. Subjects were stratified by VA impairment to compare CRTs across these groups. Relationships were examined by stepwise multiple linear regression. No significant differences in mean CRT, photopic and mesopic VA or LLD were detected between the groups no AMD, early AMD and intermediate AMD. However, mean CRTs were 20 microns and 18 microns thicker in the eyes with impaired mesopic VA (> 0.3 logMAR) and impaired LLD (⩾ 0.3 logMAR) compared to the eyes with non-impaired VA or LLD respectively (both p < 0.01). CRT and mesopic pupil size were independent predictors of mesopic VA (p = 0.001). CRT emerged as the only independent predictor of LLD (p = 0.004). Increased CRT was linked to worse retinal function when measured under mesopic conditions in eyes without AMD and eyes with early to intermediate AMD. SD-OCT imaging combined with VA measurements under low luminance conditions could be a useful tool to detect early AMD.

Electrophysiological priming effects confirm that the extrastriate symmetry network is not gated by luminance polarity.

It is known that the extrastriate cortex is activated by visual symmetry. This activation generates an ERP component called the Sustained Posterior Negativity (SPN). SPN amplitude increases (i.e., becomes more negative) with repeated presentations. We exploited this SPN priming effect to test whether the extrastriate symmetry response is gated by element luminance polarity. On each trial, participants observed three stimuli (patterns of dots) in rapid succession (500ms. with 200ms. gaps). The patterns were either symmetrical or random. The dot elements were either black or white on a grey background. The triplet sequences either showed repeated luminance (black>black>black, or white>white>white) or changing luminance (black>white>black, or white>black>white). As predicted, SPN priming was comparable in repeated and changing luminance conditions. Therefore, symmetry with black elements is not processed independently from symmetry with white elements. Source waveform analysis confirmed that this priming happened within the extrastriate symmetry network. We conclude that the network pools information across luminance polarity channels.

Visual performance and patient satisfaction after implantation of extended range-of-vision IOLs: bilateral implantation vs 2 different mix-and-match approaches.

To compare the visual outcomes and patient satisfaction after bilateral implantation of an extended range-of-vision intraocular lens (ERoV IOL) (Tecnis Symfony) vs 2 different mix-and-match approaches combining the ERoV IOL with bifocal IOLs. Glory Seoul Eye Clinic, Seoul, South Korea. Prospective observational nonrandomized comparative study. Patients undergoing cataract surgery were distributed into 3 groups based on their lifestyle and near visual demands: bilateral Symfony IOL, mix-and-match Symfony IOL with bifocal +3.25 diopters (D) IOL, and Symfony IOL with bifocal +4.0 D IOL. Binocular uncorrected visual acuity for distance, intermediate, and near, manifest refraction, defocus curve, contrast sensitivity, and subjective visual perception and satisfaction (photic phenomena, spectacle independence, and patient satisfaction) were evaluated at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively. The study comprised 103 people (206 eyes). There were no significant differences for uncorrected visual acuity between groups for distance, intermediate, and near vision (P > .05). Contrast sensitivity under low and high luminance conditions was not different between groups (P > .05). Influence of glare on image perception was found to reduce contrast sensitivity more in the bilateral group for smaller target sizes (P < .05). Patients implanted bilaterally with Symfony IOLs reported photic phenomena more frequently than those implanted with the mix-and-match combinations. All combinations evaluated provided good visual outcomes for distance, intermediate, and near. The lower incidence of photic phenomena reported by patients, and the lower reduction on contrast sensitivity for low illumination levels with the presence of glare, suggest that mix-and-match approaches might be a better option compared with bilateral implantation of ERoV IOLs.

The \u201cspeed\u201d of acuity in scotopic vs. photopic vision

PurposeThe effect of duration of optotype presentation on visual acuity measures has been extensively studied under photopic conditions. However, systematic data on duration dependence of acuity values under mesopic and scotopic conditions is scarce, despite being highly relevant for many visual tasks including night driving, and for clinical diagnostic applications. The present study aims to address this void.MethodsWe measured Landolt C acuity under photopic (90 cd/m2), mesopic (0.7 cd/m2), and scotopic (0.009 cd/m2) conditions for several optotype presentation durations ranging from 0.1 to 10 s using the Freiburg Acuity and Contrast Test. Two age groups were tested (young, 18–29 years, and older, 61–74 years).ResultsAs expected, under all luminance conditions, better acuity values were found for longer presentation durations. Photopic acuity in young participants decreased by about 0.25 log units from 0.1 to 10 s; mesopic vision mimicked the photopic visual behavior. Scotopic acuities depended more strongly on presentation duration (difference > 0.78 log units) than photopic values. There was no consistent pattern of correlation between luminance conditions across participants. We found a qualitative similarity between younger and older participants, despite higher variability among the latter and differences in absolute acuity: Photopic acuity difference (0.1 vs. 10 s) for the older participants was 0.19 log units, and scotopic difference was > 0.62 log units.ConclusionScotopic acuity is more susceptible to changes in stimulus duration than photopic vision, with considerable interindividual variability. The latter may reflect differences in aging and sub-clinical pathophysiological processes and might have consequences for visual performance during nocturnal activities such as driving at night. Acuity testing with briefly presented scotopic stimuli might increase the usefulness of acuity assessment for tracking of the health state of the visual system.

Dynamic Backlight Scaling Considering Ambient Luminance for Mobile Videos on LCD Displays

The power consumption of mobile devices is always a concern for users due to the constraints on the size and weight of mobile devices. Up to now, mobile video traffic has accounted for the majority of total traffic, which implies that viewing mobile videos has been the major activity when using mobile devices. Among all the subsystems involving in mobile video playback, the display is the most power consuming subsystem. To reduce the power consumption, dynamic backlight scaling (DBS) technique is developed by adjusting the backlight magnitude when playing the mobile video. However, the convenience of mobile devices makes lots of people watch mobile videos in various luminance environments, which makes the existing DBS methods ineffective since ambient luminance varies greatly. In this paper, we propose a novel DBS strategy to maximally enhance the battery power performance under various ambient luminance conditions through backlight magnitude adjusting, while without negatively impacting users’ quality of experience (QoE). In particular, we conduct a series of subject quality assessment experiments to uncover the quantitative relationship among QoE, ambient luminance, video content luminance, and backlight luminance. We then investigate whether the continuous playback of backlight-scaled videos using the proposed scaling magnitude under various luminance environments would cause flicker effect or not. Motivated by the findings of these studies, we implement a novel DBS strategy for mobile energy saving which is suitable for various ambient luminance conditions. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed DBS strategy can save more than 40 percent power at most and can save 10 percent power even at a very high ambient luminance condition. We also show that the proposed DBS strategy can be easily adapted to different user preferences and different devices, and can be conveniently integrated into practical applications.

Расчет визуального восприятия яркости в условиях низкой освещенности

Mesopic photometry, which studies visual perception of low-level optical radiation, is of great interest today in lighting engineering. It involves investigating human responses to visual observations in low light conditions in the object space, determining the optimum artificial illumination levels in industrial areas, and solving clinical perimetry problems. The estimation procedure for mesopic photometry recommended by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) is based on computing a combination of photopic (daylight) and scotopic (nighttime) visual perception levels. This procedure being iterative makes it inconvenient to apply in engineering practice, as the number of iterative steps proves to be several dozens on average, exceeding a hundred in certain cases. As a result, the feasibility of using the CIE procedure instead of a purely photopic perception technique becomes questionable. The discrepancy in the results obtained via these methods informs the selection criterion. The paper compares computation results for perceived brightness in photopic and mesopic vision in low luminance conditions. We also establish whether it is possible to find analytical solutions using the CIE procedure. We show that, for radiation of a colour temperature in the range of 950--12000 K, the maximum computational discrepancy between photopic and mesopic vision scenarios lies in the --200--50 % range, while the minimum discrepancy is approximately 5 % for radiation characterised by a colour temperature of approximately 2000 K. We also present analytical solutions for several specific cases according to the CIE procedure

Luminance calculation method accounting for mesopic vision and fog penetration ability.

A new luminance calculation method that accounts for mesopic vision and fog penetration ability is presented. This method aims to select a suitable light source for street lighting and is obtained using the mesopic luminance calculation and transmittance calculation methods at each individual wavelength. Additionally, the new method was evaluated using six LED light sources between 3500 and 6000 K. Overall, the calculation results indicate that suitable LEDs' CCT decreases with an increase of luminance for low transmittance rates. However, for high transmittance rates, high CCT LED lamps are the most suitable for street lighting. The recommended CCT of LED light sources for street lighting under different visibility and luminance conditions is presented.

Factors underlying visual illusions are illusion-specific but not feature-specific.

Common factors are ubiquitous. For example, there is a common factor, g, for intelligence. In vision, there is much weaker evidence for such common factors. For example, visual illusion magnitudes correlate only weakly with each other. Here, we investigated whether illusions are hyper-specific as in perceptual learning. First, we tested 19 variants of the Ebbinghaus illusion that differed in color, shape, or texture. Correlations between the illusion magnitudes of the different variants were mostly significant. Second, we reanalyzed a dataset from a previous experiment where 10 illusions were tested under four conditions of luminance and found significant correlations between the different luminance conditions of each illusion. However, there were only very weak correlations between the 10 different illusions. Third, five visual illusions were tested with four orientations. Again, there were significant correlations between the four orientations of each illusion, but not across different illusions. The weak inter-illusion correlations suggest that there is no unique common mechanism for the tested illusions. We suggest that most illusions make up their own factor.

Design of a novel low vision questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life and independence

PurposeTo develop a novel vision‐ related quality‐ of‐ life questionnaire for patients with low vision.MethodsThe content for questionnaire items was determined through personal interview with patients facing various ocular diseases (aAge‐ rRelated mMacular dDegeneration, dDiabetic rRetinopathy, etc.) and with bBest cCorrected vVisual aAcuity (BCVA) ranging from light perception to 0.2 logMAR. Patients were asked to define the most important activities in their everyday lives and difficulties due to their visual impairment. Analysis following interview identified groups of items which formed the questionnaire's scales and subscales that were evaluated for internal consistency. All eligible persons had to be 18 years or older and cognitively able to give informed consent for participation.ResultsFifty patients with a mean (standard deviation, SD) age of 54.6 (29.9) years were studied. Items that were internally inconsistent, unreliable or not relevant were excluded, resulting in the 50‐item quality‐ of‐ life and independence assessment questionnaire. Items were distributed into 7 different functional visual domains: mobility under various luminance conditions, self‐care, shopping, communication, social life, technology and education–‐work life. There were no significant differences among patients regarding their general health (p = 0.444). The questionnaire was proved to have a good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha &gt; 0.8). The average score of patients with low vision was significantly lower (p &lt; 0.001) than the average score of those with BCVA &gt; 0.5 logMAR and significantly higher (p &lt; 0.001) than those with BCVA &lt; 1.3 logMAR.ConclusionsThere is preliminary evidence that questionnaire has good internal consistency (alpha &gt; 0.8, n = 50). Results also suggest that the questionnaire seems to be sensitive to subgroup differences by measuring the vision‐ related quality of life and independence. The instrument is going to be further refined following this pilot study.